If a boy has grown up in a fundamentalist family he’s almost certain to know the names Bill Collins, Poetry, Circus, Dragonfly, Big Jim, Little Jim, and Old Man Paddler. In fact, those characters are probably just as real to him as people he’s known in in real life.

The Sugar Creek Gang books written by Paul Hutchens involve a gang (the good, wholesome kind, not the kind with guns) of boys who encounter swamp robbers, killer bears, kidnappers, and a host of other adventures. And they do it in the most squeaky-clean way possible. If you can imagine Tom Sawyer having a Baptist deacon for a dad, you might be close to the right idea.

Living out these adventures is not a bad way to spend your hours as a kid. Spend enough time reading them and you can close your eyes and almost taste Old Man Paddler’s sassafras tea…